Been watching movies regarding Christ..
1) Passion of the Christ
2) Jesus of Nazareth
3) Bible series...on Jesus
All by different actors, with some differences on how they bring out the story regarding Jesus' life...All had Jesus' Passion...the Crucifixion on the cross.. and the resurrection..
I have a cross, which is made of white gold..been loving it, and wearing it since day 1 when i received it..I didn't understand the meaning of having Jesus on the cross, looking sorrowful...i was thinking, "Why can't we carry a cross by ourselves, like imitating Jesus, like we are carrying a little cross in this cruel world, and striving to be Christ-like?" I did not like his sad fate, so i justified with myself that a simple cross will signify a devotion for him.
After watching the movies these days, it started to dawn upon me, the importance of the cruxific..I been reading articles online, which really enlightens me and explains how i've been feeling...
"Give me the crucifix over the cross"
At this time of year, as Holy Week approaches, I’m reminded of the embarrassment of the crucifix. The Protestant churches of my youth and today usually have crosses, not crucifixes. It’s not the same. In fact, I think it’s a problem.
As G. K. Chesterton once explained, the Protestant who dismisses the dying Christ may, in the end, become satisfied with a dead cross. “To salute the Cross in that sense is literally to bow down to wood and stone.” Such an idea is surprising to Protestants, because we thought it was Catholics who worshiped idols. But the salvation by faith alone preached by Luther sometimes looks like a faith in faith, a way of living in the head that replaces the Catholic understanding of the church as the vehicle of salvation.
St. Paul said that the cross of Christ would be a stumbling block to some, and salvation to others. “Is the flesh which was crucified become as poison to the crowds in the street, or is it as a strong gladness and hope to them, as the first flower blossoming out of the earth’s humus?” wrote D. H. Lawrence in The Rainbow.
Protestant crosses replaced Catholic crucifixes long ago in an effort to emphasize the Resurrection. I remember in my own very protestant churches as a child, we never heard sermons or lessons on the cross during Holy Week that did not, in some way, reveal the resurrection. Whereas a Catholic would literally darken the sanctuary from Maundy Thursday evening until the Easter vigil service, we would preach Good Friday as if it was Easter Sunday. The lessons of the sacrifice, the bloody lynching that was the crucifixion, the pain and sorrow and despair of the human Christ, were lost to us. In some profound ways, the cross by itself was for us an embarrassment, foolishness, a stumbling block.
The cross is without the corpus, or body, of Jesus. Spare crosses lack the mess and misery. I’m drawn to the corpus—even the bloodiness—of the old-fashioned crucifix. Not even those sanitized Jesuses hanging blithely with peace-loving eyes will do. The ancient church tried to distance themselves from the suffering of Christ; it wasn’t until about the sixth century that Christians felt able to take ownership of the Crucifixion. Only at that time, do we see religious art and image portraying the suffering Christ.
I prefer a crucifix to a cross. Whether it is made of plaster, plastic, wood or iron, a crucifix is not merely a metaphor. I want to learn to be comfortable in its embarrassment. May I someday more fully know the Christ who knew what it was like to be unwanted and despised.“God’s folly is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor. 1: 25).
I want to remember that Jesus came down to earth, to save us from our sins, to reconcile us with God our Father in Heaven, and died for us so that we may live. Whenever i see the scene when Jesus was being tortured and scourged, every sin by us signified a lash of the cruel whip unto His body..
It is a cruel world out there, where alot of people lived without souls, with only money as their God, being slaves to money... I pray that people will remember who Jesus suffered and died for, to become resurrected from any of their current souless life, and live in the Kingdom of Christ Love for us all. Having Jesus on the cross, a crucifix is not merely a metaphor; it is the symbol of the most important historical event in history.
"Lord Jesus, take my life and make it wholly pleasing to you. Sanctify me in your truth and guide me by your Holy Spirit that I may follow you faithfully wherever you lead."
Amen.
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